Washington State game thread

IT’S OVER — UW wins 89-87.
FOUL OR NOT? — UW 88-85, 9 seconds.
ALMOST OVER — UW 86-83, 48.6 seconds.
NEARING A RECORD — Thomas has 11 assists. The tournament record is 12.
WILCOX AGAIN — Before his hot shooting, Wilcox was 1 for 6 from the floor. He has 11 points and three-pointers. UW 82-77, 3:27.
AMAZING SHOOTING — Thompson and Wilcox are going back and forth. Thompson hit a three-pointer before Wilcox drained two treys. UW 79-75, 4:14.
FOURTH FOUL — Thompson has four fouls. The momentum has definitely turned. The Huskies are the more energetic teams and they’re getting all of the 50-50 balls. UW 71-67, 6:26.
WAR OF ATTRITION — Feels like the Cougars are wearing down. They’ve got Charlie Enquist in the game. He’s not helping them. UW 67-65, 8:12.
BIG SHOT — Holiday sank a mid-range jumper despite being fouled. he sank the ensuing jumper. UW 65-65, 8:59.
JIMMER — The UW fans are calling Thompson “Jimmer” for Jimmer Fredette, the BYU gunner. Thompson has 30 points. WSU 65-62, 9:10.
UW LEADS AGAIN — The Huskies are up 60-59, with 11:05 left. Thomas gave them the lead on a mid-range jumper.
TWO BAD CALLS — The refs blew two calls against N’Diaye. He blocked a shot, but they called a foul. It also looked as if he had position and took a charge, but the officials called a foul. WSU 58-56, 11:46.
UW TIMEOUT — The Huskies were forced to call a time out when Suggs was trapped on the side. UW has to figure out what it wants to do when the Cougars trap.
THOMPSON HAS THREE — It’s danger time for Thompson who is in the game with three fouls. The Huskies should go right at him. WSU 58-53, 12:28.
FIRST LEAD — The Huskies are pressing and forcing turnovers. WSU has three TOs this half. The Cougars are out of sorts. The Huskies are rejuvenated. Bryan-Amaning put UW ahead for the first time with a putback. UW 42-40, 17:40.
ROSS HAS THREE — That’s three fouls on Ross. He’s staying in. UW has forced two turnovers on the first two possessions.
SECOND HALF — Same starters for UW. Aden starts for WSU.
HALFTIME OBSERVATIONS — Ross has a team-high 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. If not for him, this game would be a blowout. He’s been great offensively. It’s not as if he’s looking for his shot or doing anything exceptional. He’s simply knocking down open jumpers. And there’s going to plenty of open jumpers if WSU stays in its 2-3 zone and UW keeps moving the ball.
Defensively the freshman is still a liability. He gives up just as much as he scores, which is the reason he’s only played four minutes in the previous two games. Still, the Huskies need his scoring tonight so they’ll live with a few defensive gaffes.
We’ll see if the defensive miscues ultimately lose the game for UW. The Cougars have 14 second-chance points. The Huskies four. Wazzu also leads the battle of the glass 21-17.
Those two statistics must change if UW is going to make a second-half comeback. They’re doing a decent job initially on defense. They’re getting a hand in the Cougars’ faces.
WSU is has missed 20 of 34 shots. Thompson is 6 of 15 from the field for a game-high 18 points. He’s not afraid of anyone UW puts on him. He’s taking the younger players to the rack. He’s using screens to free himself from Holiday. And he’s shooting over Thomas.
When Thompson misses, Casto is collecting the rebound. He has five. Lodwick has three and Aden four.
N’Diaye doesn’t have a rebound in nine minutes. He’s also scoreless. I guess he hasn’t responded well to the benching.
These next 20 minutes may decide UW’s postseason fate.
HALFTIME STATS — Click here.
HALFTIME — WSU 40-32.

FINALLY — Holiday scored a layup. On the other end, N’Diaye is getting outworked by Casto. WSU 38-27, 1:57.
TRAP — WSU went with its trap. It didn’t work, but it threw the Huskies off momentarily. WSU 36-25, 2:25.
IRON MAN — Thomas has not left the floor. WSU 34-25, 3:17.
COLD SPELL SNAPPED — Before Thompson’s layup, both teams combined to miss nine straight shots. The Huskies have missed their last five field goals. Thompson drove hard to the rim, pump faked, drew contact and converted. He’ll go to the line. WSU 34-25, 3:23.
HOLIDAY STILL SHOOTING BLANKS — Holiday is 0 for 3 which makes him 0 for his last nine. WSU 32-25, 5:41.
MEDIA TIMEOUT — The Huskies are streaking again. Bryan-Amaning has six straight points. All are layups. The Cougars have committed two turnovers in their last three possessions. UW’s bench is more animated now. Romar is hyped. He was yelling at everybody. Players, assistants it didn’t matter. He’s still animated. He wants this one. Badly. WSU 30-23, 7:42.
MBA SHOWS UP — Bryan-Amaning made consecutive baskets. It’s his first points. He has four and is 2 for 3 shooting. WSU 30-21, 8:21.
FYI THOMPSON IS PRETTY GOOD — Thompson has 11 points. He’s shooting whenever the touches the ball. And he’s making a high percentage. There’s not a Husky who can stop him right now. WSU 28-17, 9:43.
PAYING DIVIDENDS — Ross has eight points. If he does nothing else, starting was a good idea. Still he’s hurting the Huskies defensively. He can’t keep Motum or Faisal Aden off the glass. WSU 23-17, 11:16.
NO, NO, NO … YES — Romar didn’t like Thomas’ quick three-pointer until it splashed through the net. The Huskies are making a mini-comeback. WSU 20-15, 12:28.
FIRST SHOT — It took Thomas nearly six minutes to take a shot. He sank a mid-range runner. WSU 20-9, 13:46.
NOT A GOOD START — The Huskies look out of it early. Two turnovers. Poor execution on offense. WSU 16-7, 15:14.
MEDIA TIMEOUT – Lots of subs for UW. Darnell Gant and Scott Suggs are in, Holiday and Ross are out. On the sideline coach Lorenzo Romar is demanding the Huskies put a body on the Cougars and grab rebounds. WSU 12-7, 15:54.
TWO ON MBA — Bryan-Amaning picked up his second foul trying to keep Casto off the glass. He’s out and N’Diaye is in. WSU 9-6, 16:33.
TOKEN PRESS — Thomas is picking Moore up in the backcourt and applying just a little bit of pressure. WSU 8-6, 17:06.
IMMEDIATE RESULTS — Ross scored UW’s first points. A three-pointer. WSU 5-3, 18:21.
STARTING LINEUPS — Ross is in for N’Diaye. The other are Thomas, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Justin Holiday and C.J. Wilcox.
WSU: G Reggie Moore, G Klay Thompson, F DeAngelo Casto, F Abe Lodwick and G Marcus Capers.
ROSS STARTING — Terrence Ross is going to make his first start in place of center Aziz N’Diaye.
DUCK SIGHTING — Caught up with Oregon guard Malcolm Armstead who standing off to the side of the court and watching both teams warmup. He said he doesn’t care who Oregon plays.
“At this time of the year it really doesn’t matter. We’ve played both of these teams before. We’ve beaten them and we’ve lost to them. So we know them. And they know us.”
I asked Armstead if he’s surprised Oregon has advanced to the semifinals and he said no.
“When we were winning (during the regular season) we knew we were capable of playing this way,” he said. “It was just a matter of staying focused.”
ON TV — As we all know, FSN has the call. Steve Physioc has the call, Marques Johnson is the analyst and Rebecca Haarlow is the sideline reporter.
FOCUSED — Isaiah Thomas has the look of a stone-cold killer. No smiles. No waves to fans. No signing autographs. No goofing around with teammates. Nothing.
HOLIDAY UPDATE — Justin Holiday is on the court and warming up. He looks fine. Holiday suffered a concussion last Saturday.
LOOKING AHEAD — If Washington wins, it faces Oregon at 8:40 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. The No. 7 seed Ducks looked outstanding in their 76-59 upset over No. 2 UCLA.